


Before & After 1/?

by sunnywithclouds



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Draco/Harry - Freeform, Drarry, EWE, Epilogue What Epilogue, Harry/Draco - Freeform, M/M, Multi, No actual Harry/Ginny or Draco/Astoria is happening, Non Canonical, Sort of ignoring epilogue, Vaguely follows the canon timeline, but is NOT canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-09-24 06:43:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20354098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnywithclouds/pseuds/sunnywithclouds
Summary: *This work will probably not receive an update.Draco and Harry have one of the most convoluted, complicated, intricate and serpentine of relationships.  It went on during school, it carried on after school.  It stopped.  And now it seems it’s starting again.(Told in chapters that vary between Before the war and after the war, and varying points of view between Draco and Harry. It is not told in any sort of order, but bounces around to slowly round out.It ignores a good deal of what the “Epilogue” led us to believe, though some parts I’m keeping because it adds to the story.  If you love the Epilogue and everything it represents don’t read this. ;) )———————————————————————-





	1. Chapter 1

September 1st, 19 Years After

And there he was. The man Harry both hoped he wouldn't see, and rather desperately hoped he would.

While Ginny was the one who was bent over their children as they waited to board the train, Draco was the one who was on a knee in front of his and Astoria's son. 

Scorpius was everything Draco and everything not. He was just as blonde, just as silver eyed and just and perfectly put together, but his features were soft, he had a roundness to his face and a smile in his eyes that might have changed a lot of things if Draco had had the same when he held a hand out to Harry that first year.

Draco himself looked every bit as Harry remembered and also nothing like. A good height for a man, though likely falling short of his father. Lean but strong looking in build with the very pale skin and incredibly blonde hair. But he smiled now in a way that was real and not smirking. It changed his appearance almost entirely, that smile. Harry had seen it before a long time ago but it was fleeting and never lasted more than a few seconds before the nasty smirk was super imposed on top of it.

“Don't start anything.” Ginny muttered in his ear before turning to hustle the children towards the train doors. She misinterpreted the stare Harry was giving his old enemy as one of hate rather than one of fierce curiosity.

As Astoria nudged Scorpius towards the train, Draco straightened and brushed off the knee of his trousers, turning his head and catching Harry's gaze from across the platform. They stood looking at each other for a long few moments before, rather surprisingly, Draco moved to walk towards Harry.

“Potter.” He said, the first time Harry had heard his name in that tone in more years he was able to count. In a voice that used to be so sharp, but now had a smoothness and depth to it.

“Malfoy.” Harry said in return, surprised when the corners of Draco's lips tugged upwards slightly, making his own do the same for a moment before he forced them down into a frown.

“I heard you’re Hogwart’s newest Defence Against the Dark Arts professor.” Draco spoke while looking away towards the train, raising one hand to wave at his son for a moment before dropping it back down. “Auror work not suiting you?”

Harry stayed silent for a few moments, weighing the other man’s words. Parsing them for both subtext and disdain before realizing there was no reason to. Old habits died hard.

“I’m afraid it was becoming more than a little boring and a little routine. At least in the past ten years or so.” Harry said truthfully, trying not to feel regret in his words. Being an Auror had meant something to him when he was coming of age. There was so much need for good ones, so much of him was consumed by the desire to bring justice and find the people doing wrong. But honestly, it was only interesting for awhile after Voldemort was destroyed once and for all. 

For some time he was involved in a lot of clean up from that. There were still quite a few people who had followed Voldemort, still believed in his doctrine and still believed he was right. Some copy cats tried to flare up in his place, some people just continued upholding Voldemort’s ideals and had to be dealt with. But it fizzled to nothing eventually.   
“It turns out,’ Harry said, looking over at Draco carefully. “That the majority of people like their peaceful lives. Myself included.”

Draco laughed at that, raising one eyebrow in a gesture Harry never had been able to master, and he had tried, shaking his head. “I’m sorry... You want a peaceful life but you’ve taken a job as a professor?”

Harry couldn’t help but smile, looking down a bit. “I see your point. But somehow it does seem less rowdy than busting into people’s homes for enchanting muggle toilets.”

“That’s what they had you doing?”

“I wish I could tell you I was joking.”

The two men smiled at each other a bit more openly, neither saying anything for a few moments before Draco broke the silence.

“Your youngest’s first day?”

“Yes. And Scorpius’ as well?” Harry turned to look at the train, his eyes landing on each of his children before straying to Draco’s pale blonde son. “Strange to think they’ll be in the same year like we were.”

“House rivalry doesn’t run in the family.” Draco said, almost apologetically, making Harry jerk his head around to look at him. 

“I didn’t mean...” He started, but Draco just shook his head at him. 

“I know you didn’t mean that. But I did. I doubt you would have had such issues with Slytherin as a house if is wasn’t for me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Harry said truthfully, tilting his head a bit as he looked at Draco rather curiously. “I had more than your personal influence guiding me in that. Sirius was pretty driven against it. My father was as well.”

“Was his influence that strong?” Draco’s tone wavered slightly, almost with a tinge of hope to it that made Harry furrow his brow.

“My father’s? Yes. I know it sees strange since I never really knew him, but every little bit of him I did find was something I held onto almost murderously tightly. Hating Slytherin was one of those things. I regret it now.”

Draco raised one hand, pushing it through his hair, a nervous gesture Harry recognized that preceded Draco saying something he was uncomfortable letting past his lips.

“It’s funny how many regrets you can have based simply on who your father was.” The blonde said somewhat quietly, unable to stop his eyes moving around to figure out if anyone else could hear him. A habit that still hadn’t died when he spoke of things, of family, that he was sure wasn’t proper for him to say.  
“I don’t think it’s funny.” Harry said at once rather sharply, immediately regretting it when Draco startled, a slight fear creeping into his silver eyes. Harry softened his gaze, one hand instinctively reaching out to touch Draco’s arm, just for a moment before he dropped it down again. “I mean, I don’t think you... I mean anyone.. should let a parent off so easily, for damage they’ve done. I do love my father but I also rather hate the prejudice he somehow instilled in me. It’s not all his fault but I don’t ignore the fact that he put some of it there.”

“Heavy conversation.” Draco said after a moment which made Harry laugh, not pushing the topic further since it was, it had to be a said, a little out of place.

“Potter... Look...” Draco started a few moments later, making a soft noise and pushing a hand through his hair again.   
“I came over here for a reason...” He shifted on his feet, then dug into his coat pocket, coming out with a loosely held fist that extended over to Harry. He bobbed it slightly, inclining his head in a nod and a gesture that said 'take it'. Harry held out his hand and Draco's opened over it, dropping a gold chain that was strung with a tiny golden snitch.

Harry stared at it, slightly open mouthed in surprise for a few moments before he jerked his head up to look at Draco accusingly. “Hermione gave me this in fifth year.”“I know.”

“I thought I lost it. How do you have it? How did you know it was mine?”“I took it from you.” Draco said simply, his eyes turning a bit, drifting to things that only he could see, not saying anything more.

Harry looked at the other man for a few moments caught between not understanding and anger, but as he did little snippets of memory filtered to him and he was sure right then that what Draco's eyes had wandered to, he was seeing the same now. He remembered. Tried hard to forget, but he remembered, he knew when Draco had taken it. He didn't really understand fully why he had, but now he knew when.

He cleared his throat softly, touching his glasses, then held his hand with the chain back out to Draco who immediately shook his head.

“I stole it from you.” 

“I had it for a week before I thought I lost it. You've had it for how many years? I don't need it...” He didn't need it. And while he thought maybe it was awfully egotistical for him to think so, he thought maybe, somehow and for some reason, Draco did need it.

Draco looked back up to Harry's face again, two small pink spots appearing high on his cheeks. He hesitated a moment, started to put his hand out, then pulled it back again, his head tilting and eyes narrowing as he sized Harry up a little more. “Why?” he asked simply, his hand still slightly outstretched, not close enough to take the chain back, just enough that Harry would know he wasn't yet saying no.

“Because I would have given it to you then if I'd known you wanted it.”

The pink spots on Draco's cheeks deepened to close to crimson, his eyes dropping for a moment as his hand reached out further, opened, and the chain returned into his palm.

He tucked it back into his pocket, now the owner of it rightfully, only then did he look towards the train again, towards his son who he smiled at so warmly, waving as the child waved vigorously to him. 

Harry watched them, turning to look for his wife and his own children for a moment, then back to Draco, finding the other man facing him once more. Looking in that moment like he had when they were in school. So strong and yet some how so broken.

“Maybe they'll be friends.” Harry said quietly, standing a little taller than he had been, his shoulders setting back, his chin raising slightly. But his posture was in a way protective of the man standing in front of him, not challenging him. “Perhaps.” Draco said after a long pause, uncertainty and unasked questions showing plainly in his eyes.

“We can hope.” Harry said, pausing for a moment. “I do hope.”

“I do, too.” 

Draco spoke the three words, then whipped his head around when Astoria called to him. He looked up to Harry once more, quirking one side of his mouth up in an obvious parody of his childhood smirk.  
“See you, Potter.”

“Good riddance, Malfoy.” Harry said but couldn't help a genuine smile as he said it.

He watched Draco walk towards Astoria who tucked her hand firmly into his arm and sent a truly nasty look towards Harry before she managed to turn both herself and Draco away from him.

“What WAS that?” Ginny asked as she came back to stand next to him, looking at Astoria and Draco.

“I have absolutely no idea.” He said to her in return, and it was an honest answer. He didn't really know what that was. What Draco had truly wanted. If it truly was to try and give back the necklace that Harry had always thought rather girlish to begin with. Ginny gave him a slightly side long glance with a smile and raised eyebrows that made him laugh and colour faintly.

He watched the train start to move, knowing he, himself, had to now leave for Hogwarts as well. He waved at the windows even though he had absolutely no idea where any of his children were behind them, and found himself hoping, really hoping, that Albus and Scorpius would be friends.


	2. Before & After 2/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> April of Year 6. Draco keeps disappearing and Harry manages to corner him to question him. But if he wants answers, he has to pay for them.
> 
>   
(Told in chapters that vary between Before the war and after the war, and varying points of view between Draco and Harry. It is not told in any sort of order, but bounces around to slowly round out.  
It ignores a good deal of what the “Epilogue” led us to believe, though some parts I’m keeping because it adds to the story. If you love the Epilogue and everything it represents don’t read this. ;) )  
——————————————————

Year 6 - April, 1997 - Before

“Where do you keep disappearing to!?”

Draco only had a moment to gasp, his arm instinctively raising with his wand, before his back was slammed against the wall, knocking his wand from his hand and sending it clattering to the floor.

Harry’s face was right in his, his eyes looking fiery and murderous as both hands were bunched in the front of his robes, holding his hard against the stone wall.

Draco laughed. Slightly breathless from being slammed against a wall, but he laughed.

And that seemed to set Harry off guard, the dark haired boy unable to help looking at him curiously.

“Come off it, Potter.” Draco said with a slight growl in his otherwise amused voice. “What do you think you could do to me to make me tell you anything?”

The grip on Draco’s robes faltered slightly, loosened, then reaffirmed itself with twice the strength, making the blonde gasp a bit as weight leaned into him and stole a bit more of his breath.

“I could curse you...”

“Sure you could.” Draco said, his eyes dancing as they met Harry’s. “I wish you would, actually. Once again acting against me without true reason.”

”I have reason.” Harry spit the words out venomously at Draco, leaning in against him harder, their faces a mere couple of inches apart.

“You know you do, and I know you do...” Draco’s smile turned dark, his voice low with Harry so close to him. “But no one else believes it. How many times have you told them I’m up to something this year alone? How many times have you said I was behind the necklace that cursed that Bell girl? And how many times have you truly been taken seriously?”

Harry’s eyes went wider as he looked at Draco, feeling a hot curl in the pit of his stomach as anger burned his insides raw. “The Ministry searched your house when I gave them a tip.”

”And found nothing.” Draco whispered to him, smirking now, shifting under the heavy hands that held him fast. “If you curse me now. If you hurt me in any way. You’ll do nothing to strengthen your story to anyone who CAN stop me.”

“I could kill you. That would stop you.” The words grated out of Harry who leaned even heavier against the blonde, forcing a groan from Draco that was followed with a breathy laugh.

“Kill me then. Merlin knows it would solve a lot of my problems if I was just DEAD. And create a lot more for you, which would be a crowning achievement and make dying now worthwhile.”

That stopped Harry, and why wouldn’t it? Draco practically asking for death. Seeming to not care a bit that he was alone, held fast, and had basically admitted that he was, actually, up to something. 

“What is wrong with you!?” The dark haired boy sputtered, anger growing as Draco laughed at him again. “You’re normally a coward when you’re on your own? I can’t think of any other time I’ve had you cornered that you haven’t recoiled and back tracked and tried to worm your way out of it.”

“Things change, Potter.” Draco said with a languid smile, his body relaxing and his hands sliding up Harry’s arms, twisting around them so his palms curved against the other boy’s biceps.

“Don’t start that again.”

“Don’t start what?” Draco raised one eyebrow, the side of his mouth curving upwards as he looked at the other boy. 

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“You’re the one pinning me against a wall, Potter. 

“To threaten you.”

“And job well done there. Consider me thoroughly threatened.” Draco snorted lightly, his eyes turning up as he shook his head. “I have nothing to tell you about where I’m disappearing to.”

“You admit you’re disappearing.” Harry’s expression lifted a bit, looked more hopeful like he might be getting somewhere.

“Obviously. You’ve been tracking me for weeks, did you think I wouldn’t notice and wouldn’t also know you’d figure it out? But even with you knowing that, you can’t just walk up to Dumbledore and say ‘Draco’s disappearing, question him’. You have no real proof.”

“You don’t have proof you aren’t disappearing if it came to that.” Harry growled, shifting forward a bit more.

“I, unfortunately for you, am in the position of not having to prove I’m innocent in this situation. After so many false accusations, YOU will have to prove I’m guilty.”

Harry’s face fell again as he realized how true that was. Draco’s hands tightened on his arms and he growled at the blonde. “Get your hands off me.”

“You let me go first.” Draco said, his eyes seeming to flicker in the dim light of the hall, narrowing and daring Harry to do just that. 

“Where are you going when you disappear, Draco...” Harry’s voice was softer, almost pleading. 

“Make it worth my while to tell you.”

Harry’s temper flared, Draco could see it in his eyes and in his face. Colour rose into his cheeks making the dark haired boy seem to flicker and crackle like a flame that had just been lit. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched it happen, thumping his own head back against the wall as he regarded Harry with immense satisfaction.

“What do you want.” Harry spit the words out in agitation.

“I want you to let me off the wall so I can go to my common room.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Then make giving you the information worth my while. Then we can both leave.”

Draco’s head tipped back a bit further, his eyes lidded as they looked at the darker boy, his lips slightly parted.

Harry felt a surge of anger mixed with... something else entirely as he looked at him. Hated himself for that ‘something else’ which was supposed to be gone. It was supposed to be done. It couldn’t keep coming back, but it did.

He leaned in, hesitating halfway across the very short space to Draco’s face, making a sound of frustration.

“Come off it, Potter.” Draco said quietly, darkly and rather dangerously. His lips close enough to Harry’s that they almost caught together as he spoke. “You know what happens if you fight it.”

Another growl from Harry, but he pressed forward, crushing his mouth against Draco’s in a kiss that was chaste to start with, but hard, his hands still between them, balled in Draco’s robes for a few moments before they released and he slid his arms around the blonde boy’s lower back, pulling his hips forward as he kept his upper body pinned tight against the wall.

Draco’s arms came up, one folding over the back of Harry’s neck while his other hand plunged into his dark, messy hair. He tilted his head up a bit to press back into the bruising kiss, his mouth opening just as Harry’s did.

It was brutally hard, they fought each other just as much as worked together. Teeth and tongues clashing and pressing and searching and biting and forcing low noises from both of them. Draco’s hand fisted tightly in Harry’s hair. One of Harry’s hands slid down, squeezing the back of Draco’s thigh just under his ass.

For time that stretched seemingly endless the only sound in the hallway was soft slick noises, short gasps of breath, low noises of pleasure that neither of them wanted to escape and let the other one hear, and the shift of fabric grinding tightly against fabric.

Eventually they broke, both in their own heads claiming they stopped first.

“Where are you disappearing to?” Harry asked, pretending his hand wasn’t still clutched in the soft back thigh belonging to Draco.

“The Room of Requirement.”

It was like a lightbulb went off over Harry’s head. Draco’s response which he knew gave away his location but absolutely nothing he was doing in there, shone light directly into Harry’s brain and snapped together so many pieces of the puzzle at once. 

“Happy now?”

“What are you doing in there?”

Draco laughed quietly shaking his head slowly side to side. “I answered your question.”

Harry made a petulant noise, letting go of Draco who released him easily, snaking his hands back to straighten his bunched robes. 

“Can I go now?” He asked Harry, tilting his head a bit with a smirk. “Or did you have something else to offer in exchange for information?”

Harry said nothing, so Draco shrugged, sliding along the wall away from the dark haired boy, bending to pick up his wand as he went. He inspected it to make sure the drop hadn’t harmed it, but also flicked his eyes to Harry who was staring at the wall, seething with anger so strong it was almost visible.

“Luck, Potter. You’ll need it.” Draco said before turning to walk down the hall slowly, as though half of him wished Harry would come after him.


	3. Before & After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Three- A problem with Scorpius prompts Harry to contact Draco to come in for a meeting. But Scorpius is definitely the reason for the meeting, Harry takes the opportunity to return something that rightfully belongs to Draco.
> 
> Draco and Harry have one of the most convoluted, complicated, intricate and serpentine of relationships. It went on during school, it carried on after school. It stopped. And now it seems it’s starting again.
> 
> (Told in chapters that vary between Before the war and after the war, and varying points of view between Draco and Harry. It is not told in any sort of order, but bounces around to slowly round out.  
It ignores a good deal of what the “Epilogue” led us to believe, though some parts I’m keeping because it adds to the story. If you love the Epilogue and everything it represents don’t read this. ;) )

October, 19 Years After

“Potter!”

Harry jumped in his chair, his head jerking up to look towards the door where Headmaster McGonagall stood, then got to his feet to gesture with one hand to invite her to sit at his desk.

“Can I help you Professor McGonagall?” He asked, trying to separate himself from the boy he used to be and the teacher he was now. Something distinctively difficult with McGonagall, he had to admit.

“I heard that you’ve asked Draco Malfoy to come in and have a meeting with you shortly.” She said crisply, resting her hands on the back of the chair she’d been invited to sit in. Either preferring to stand, or she wasn’t planning to stay long.

“That’s correct, Professor.” He said with a small nod, sitting down at his desk once more. “Is there something wrong with that?”

“Professors do not generally meet with parents one on one during the school year. Especially not when they are said professor’s former sworn enemy.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile. McGonagall was a kind woman, but she never danced around a point. If she had something to say, she said it.

“Do you honestly think I’m plotting against Draco Malfoy?”

“No, Potter, but I want to know your actual motives because it truly is out of the ordinary.”

He nodded, fiddling with the quill he had been using to mark with before she came in. He did know it was out of the ordinary. And part of him knew this was something he could have handled over owl if he’d wanted to. But he hadn’t wanted to. He wanted to talk to Draco face to face.

“I wanted to talk to Draco about Scorpius. Nothing bad, but something I felt would be best and most kindly handled face to face.”

McGonagall eyed him warily and with a distinct knowing that somewhat irked him. “Are you going to start accusing Scorpius Malfoy of the same things you used to accuse Draco of? Is he ‘up to something’, Potter?”

Harry laughed, shaking his head and dropping the quill to wave his hands a bit. “Nothing of the sort. Scorpius is a great kid. I’m far more concerned about what my own children are up to that I don’t know about than suspecting Scorpius of any wrong doing.”

McGonagall looked slightly mollified by what he had to say. Enough that she stopped gripping the back of the chair like it had wronged her somehow. “You understand why I had to ask you.” She said, looking at him pointedly.

“I completely understand. And I want Draco to understand the problem I feel Scorpius is facing which is why I don’t want to chance writing an owl to him and have him misunderstand the tone I’m speaking in. Because he could read it completely differently than I intended, given our rather colourful past.”

At that McGonagall actually nodded sagely, looking thoughtful as she stood up straight. “Quite good thinking, Potter.” She said, which was, it had to be noted, very high praise and he knew it. “If I can be a help in any way, please let me know.”

“You aren’t going to ask what exactly I want to see Draco about concerning Scorpius?”

“Do I need to?” McGonagall asked, raising his eyebrows at Harry, then smiling in tight satisfaction when he shook his head. “I didn’t think so. Contrary to what you might feel being back here, Potter, you are an adult and a teacher now. I trust my teachers to do what they feel is right.”

She excused herself, but not before straightening a curtain with her hand and cleaning smudges off his classroom door with her wand. Leaving Harry to once again lapse off into deeper thoughts. He really hadn’t wanted to contact Draco and ask him to come in. Not really. If he was completely honest he did want to see him again, but not in circumstances like this. But that was only if he was honest with himself, and most of the time he didn’t allow himself the luxury of that particular honesty.

Presently, there was a knock on his door that roused him from his thoughts, looking up he saw the still pale and still pointed despite age face of Draco Malfoy.

“Come in.” He said, beckoning with a slight smile, gesturing to the chair that McGonagall had declined to sit in. “Thank you for coming.”

“You said in your letter that it was about Scorpius.” Draco said as he sat down, his silver-grey eyes seeming to probe the dark haired man in front of him. “Is he alright?”

“Yes, of course.” Harry said as he stacked his papers and moved them to the side so he could have some clear space between him and Draco. “It’s nothing truly terrible, I don’t think... I just wanted to have this conversation with you face to face. Scorpius is doing well in class but he seems... frightened.”

Draco frowned, turning his head slightly as he regarded Harry uneasily. “I’m sorry, I would have thought you’d find a little relief in a child of mine being wary of the Dark Arts.” He spoke stiffly, his spine seeming to straighten up a little more and make him taller and slightly haughty in his manner.

“No.. Sorry. I don’t mean he seems scared of the subject matter. He tackles that quite handily. I mean he seems afraid of me. Fairly strongly.”

That rendered Draco silent as he looked back at Harry with a deeper but not quite so suspicious frown. “Afraid of you?” He asked after almost a full minute had passed.

Harry nodded, smoothing his hands against the desk. “I wanted to talk to you before I talked to him. I don’t want him to be afraid of me. But I don’t know why he would be.”

“You think I taught him to be?” Draco asked, leaning forward a bit. “You aren’t someone to be afraid of, I wouldn’t have taught him that.”

“Maybe not directly.” Harry said, shaking his head. “But I don’t know what he knows about before. About the war. About what happened...”

“He knows you saved my life. He knows you saved all of our lives. He knows that by the time the actual war truly began that the Malfoy’s were lower than pawns to... him... And that without you we wouldn’t be here and he wouldn’t be here and...” Draco trailed off as he watched Harry put his face in his hands, feeling a bit insulted. “I told him the truth.” He said defensively.

”Sorry. I know that’s the truth but...” Harry raised his head again, folding his arms on the desk as he looked at Draco for a long few moments. “That’s a lot to lay on a child who has to sit in class with me. Telling him that this man right here is the only reason that you’re still alive? Which isn’t exactly true..”

“It is true.” Draco said sharply, not particularly liking to have to admit it more than once in a conversation, but unable to tell a lie about it either. “And he knew these things long before you were a teacher here. I wasn’t to know you’d change profession.”

”That’s fair.” Harry said with a nod, still itching to argue with Draco about saving his life and what that seemed to imply, but understanding that a line had been drawn with the sharpness of his speech. “Do I have your permission to talk to him directly about this? I feel like maybe if I could just have a level conversation with him it might help. This job isn’t jinxed anymore and barring any unforeseen circumstance he will have me as his teacher for seven years. That’s a long time to try and learn around being afraid of someone.”

Draco was quiet for awhile as he thought, then he nodded his head, turning to look out the window. “That’s fine with me. But I would like you to send me an Owl afterwards to tell me what you talked about. I’m sure he’ll have more questions for me and I want a level playing field.”

Harry couldn’t help but smile, some of the Draco he’d known in school was leaking out in those words. Not wanting to give the upper hand to Harry even if there wasn’t truly an upper hand here. “That’s no trouble at all. We can write whenever needed on this or anything else that needs discussion.”

He didn’t need to add that last bit, it was an invitation to talk about anything else. To write and converse about things not pertaining to Draco’s son. He shouldn’t have said it, but he couldn’t help himself.

“There was... one more thing, Draco.” Harry said, leaning over to open a drawer, he retrieved something from it and gently set it on the desk between them. 

Draco took in a sharp breath when he saw it, his hand instinctively reaching before stopping and pulling back again. “My wand..” He said quietly, his eyes glued to the slender piece of wood that had been set down. “That’s my original wand.”

Harry nodded, keeping his hands in his lap and his eyes on Draco. “Do you want it back?”

Draco looked up from the wand to Harry’s face, studying him carefully. “You won it from me fairly.”

“That’s debatable.” Harry said, since it was debatable whether or not he had won it fairly in that fight. Nothing had been fair about any of the fights leading into the war. “I know you have another but I know you felt the same about your wand as I felt about mine. I never wanted another, I just wanted my own.”

“Does it still respond to you?” Draco asked quietly, his voice betraying just how on the mark Harry had hit in talking about their respective wands. 

“Yes.” Harry nodded, smiling faintly at Draco as he reached to pick up the wand, holding it gently as he looked at the other man. “So if you win it from me, it will once again be rightfully yours.” 

Harry waited, watching Draco who seemed unable to do anything. After time stretched in silence too long, he held one hand out towards Draco in invitation, speaking quietly. “Disarm me, Draco. Whether I won it or not, it’s always been and always will be yours.”

Draco hesitated, raising his eyes to meet Harry’s, looking into them for a long few moments, searching them rather deeply before he reached to take out the wand he was currently using. He raised it and Harry could see a slight shake in his hand that steadied after a moment before he flicked his wrist and all but whispered _“Expelliarmus.”_

Harry’s hand twitched, but the gentleness of the jinx just made his fingers slacken of their own accord. The wand dropped onto the desk instead of jerking and flying away from him. It rolled towards Draco who carefully and almost reverently picked it up.

“I just feel bad it took me this long to give it back.” Harry said to the other man, rubbing the odd tingles out of his hand from the jinx that had been directed at it. 

“It doesn’t matter.” Draco said, closing all his fingers around the comfortable and familiar contours of the wand he’d missed so much. “You kept it. I thought it was lost or destroyed in the last fight. Or taken, since it was the wand that.. ended him.”

“They wanted to take it. The Ministry, I mean. For historical reasons. But Kingsley backed me up when I said no. I just held onto it.”

“Thank you.” Draco said simply, meeting Harry’s eyes again, causing a flutter in the darker haired man’s chest at how their gazes locked so strongly.

“You’re welcome.” Harry said just as simply. 

Because what else could they say to each other?


	4. Before & After 4/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 4 - Six weeks after The War, the Wizarding World is trying to sort everything out. Trials and sentencing and pardons were being handed down almost hourly. Harry testifies for the Malfoy's and Draco finds him to tell him the results.
> 
> Before & After - Draco and Harry have one of the most convoluted, complicated, intricate and serpentine of relationships. It went on during school, it carried on after school. It stopped. And now it seems it’s starting again.
> 
> (Told in chapters that vary between Before the war and after the war, and varying points of view between Draco and Harry. It is not told in any sort of order, but bounces around to slowly round out.  
It ignores a good deal of what the “Epilogue” led us to believe, though some parts I’m keeping because it adds to the story. If you love the Epilogue and everything it represents don’t read this. ;) )

Six Weeks After the War

One second he was standing there, and seemingly the next he was tackled back against a brick wall. His reflex reaction was to fight whoever had just attacked him, squirming to try and reach for his wand, but as he did, he realized he wasn’t, actually, being attacked. He was being hugged.

“Who...?” He trailed off as he recognized the tall slim body that was hugging him, his cheeks immediately colouring, a smile inching onto his face as he wrapped his arms around Draco Malfoy in return. “It went okay?”

“It went perfect.” Draco’s voice was muffled both because his face was buried in Harry’s shoulder and because he was clearly overflowing with emotion. “Full pardon, for all of us. Because of you...”

“I don’t think I did any—“ He didn’t finish the sentence because Draco’s head had pulled back and he leaned in to press a hard and insistent kiss to Harry’s lips, holding there long enough for Harry to forget what he was saying before he broke from him.

“Shut it. It was you, your testimony. There was no other way we would have been pardoned. No other way they would have truly believed that we hadn’t been in on the master plan when.. he.. came back.”

Harry smiled, wiggling one arm up to smooth his palm over Draco’s cheek, looking into his abnormally happy face. “I still don’t think your parents really....” He trailed off on his own that time, not wanting to say it, but also unable to help at least partially voicing his feelings about Draco’s parents and their allegiance and true beliefs.

“They’ll never change. Not really.” Draco admitted, raking his teeth over his lower lip and looking away from Harry. “But you still testified for all of us.”

“Because of what it meant to you. I know where you stand. I know that even if your parents never really change what they believe, they’re being watched by you.”

“And I wouldn’t hesitate to tell someone if I thought they were involved in something nasty again. You know that and they know it too.” Draco smiled a little more softly, closing his eyes as he leaned into Harry’s palm. ”I just can’t believe this... I thought for sure even with you speaking out for us we’d all end up in Azkaban.”

“I can’t say that if your parents ended up there I’d do much about it. But if you did, I’d fight tooth and nail to get you back out again.” 

Harry slid his hand up into Draco’s silky blonde hair, rubbing into the strands for a few moments as his eyes roamed over the other boy’s face. This news seemed to have taken ten years off his life, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him without a crease between his eyes. The dark circles under them were still there and likely would be for awhile, if not always, but the stress was gone from his face. He leaned forward, pulling Draco’s head in so he could kiss him again, making a low noise as their mouths slid together in practiced unison to fit together perfectly.

He could lose himself like this, wrapped up in the blonde boy, their mouths pressed together, their tongues curling against each other slowly and deeply. The feel of him had become so familiar despite how they seemed to weave in and out of each other's lives almost violently. But he could lose himself here, and happily, too.

Eventually their mouths parted with a soft noise, Harry's hand shifting through the strands of Draco's hair, letting them spill slowly from between his fingers. But his brows knit when he saw the look on Draco's face. "What..?"

"We can't keep doing this." He said bluntly, which was how Draco tended to approach most things. Head on, straight to the point, nothing delicate at all. And immediate. He made decisions like lightning, fast and sharp and often destructive.

"Making out in the Ministry hallway? I kind of agree." Harry smirked, but the expression faded as he saw the frown on Draco's face deepen again. "What did you mean?"

"This... Us.." Draco said, shaking his head a bit, making the line Harry hated appear between his eyebrows again. "This isn't how it's supposed to be."

"I didn't think we'd get married and raise a family or anything." Harry said, the words coming out harder than he meant them, but something in his chest was squeezing tighter than was comfortable.

"No, we wouldn't. But you should."

"I should what?" Harry asked, his eyes narrowing a bit as Draco tread into territory he was already tired of hearing about from others around him. 

"Get married and raise a family." Draco said, confirming Harry's suspicions that this was just like what everyone else said.

"Draco....". Harry said the other boy's name with a bit of an exasperated groan. He wasn't mad at HIM, but he certainly wasn't that happy right then. "I didn't think you and I could be a long term thing. No one knows, no one's ever known. And Merlin himself knows we can't even get along half the time no matter what we're doing. But what does that have to do with me getting married and raising a family?"

"It's all about appearances. You're the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, the hero of our world. People will want to see you married with kids and living a fine, quaint and comfortable life."

Harry knew Draco was kind of the one who understood appearances and what you did for them better than anyone. His whole life had been like that. His parents lives had as well. But he shook his head rather vehemently. "Maybe my 'fine and quaint and comfortable life' doesn't include any of those things. I don't see why it has to and I don't see who's business it is what I do with my life now. I've done my job, I fulfilled the prophecy or whatever. It's done."

"It won't ever be done." Draco said with a note of resignation in his voice. "You're never going to be done, Harry."

As much as Harry didn't want to admit it, he knew Draco was right. He'd been staunchly ignoring the fact that there seemed to be no end to what came next for himself as the Boy Who Lived. It was still early days after the war, people and the wizarding world as a whole were still sorting themselves out. But he could see the roads and paths that lay ahead of him. And he knew Draco was dead on when he said it wouldn't ever be done.

Harry sighed, sliding both of his hands to rest flat between them on Draco's chest, leaning back against the wall as he looked up into the other boy's silver eyes. "So... This is it, then?"

Draco's gaze faltered, but to his credit, he didn't look away. He kept his eyes trained on Harry's, looking within the green depths as if trying to find something, some reason, some other way. But he nodded, a small and slightly pained smile curving at his lips. "I think it has to be. But Harry..."

"I know." Harry said, pushing himself to stand up straight against the wall, starting to pull his hands away from Draco's chest, but stopped when the blonde held them fast with his own.

"You don't know." Draco said quietly, squeezing the other boy's hands. "You may never know... What everything has meant to me. All of it."

They both fell quiet for a few moments, both of them probably thinking the same things, replaying so many fights, so many tears, so much hatred and yet so much tenderness, so much understanding and so much warmth that they had shared. 

"If you ever need anything." Harry said, swallowing thickly and trying to keep a neutral and stoic expression on his face as he gently untangled his hands from Draco's.

"And if you ever need anything." Draco said in return, letting go of Harry's hands with an ache and a regret that he felt would never fully resolve within him.

They walked to the main hallway together, then both turned and headed in opposite directions. Draco to his parents and the life they needed to rebuild. Harry to whatever it was that came next for The Boy Who Lived.

They both looked back at each other. Harry watching Draco's retreating form, then Draco watching Harry's. Neither of them knowing the other had done it. Missing the moment when their eyes might have met. If they had, they might have known, this was goodbye for now. But not goodbye forever.


	5. Before & After 5/?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Year 7- This was their last chance, maybe their only chance. When Draco finds Harry in the woods where he was camping with Hermione, they take what little time they have to be together.
> 
> (Told in chapters that vary between Before the war and after the war, and varying points of view between Draco and Harry. It is not told in any sort of order, but bounces around to slowly round out.  
It ignores a good deal of what the “Epilogue” led us to believe, though some parts I’m keeping because it adds to the story. If you love the Epilogue and everything it represents don’t read this. ;) )
> 
> \-----------

Year 7, November 1997- 5 Months Before

They knew this might be their last chance. Their only chance. The years of mixed feelings, of angry kisses, of needy touches, of playing the back and forth game of trying to keep the upper hand had dissolved the year before. When the real horror of both their lives was made clear. 

It had changed things, their rivalry didn't matter. What mattered was the vice like grip that Voldemort had on both of them at opposing ends of the spectrum. It made it clear just how much they really did need each other. But made being together next to impossible.

They had both risked everything, absolutely everything, to try and stay in sparse contact with each other since the end of Year 6. Harry used a shoddy replica of the coins Hermione had made for the DA, his magic no where near as good as hers, but it worked. 

Draco used his Patronus, since no one but Harry knew that he could create one, no one would assume or know it was his. 

He had used it tonight, a risk so large that Harry was torn between being angry and being scared when he saw the pale glow of the small fox bound through the woods towards him. He was on watch while Hermione slept. Ron had left a week and a half ago. Both of them were so tired of trying to talk and act like normal that bedtime had started coming sooner and sooner. That was the only reason Harry was alone right then sitting outside. In a less stressful situation, he would have had company.

"God dammit, Draco.." Harry hissed the words out, already on his feet and moving away from camp, away from the protection of the spells Hermione put up each time they set up. He followed the fox, heart in his throat as his mind bounced over every possible reason Draco would have to make a move this bold.

"Harry." The blonde boy stepped out from a thick clump of trees, black and stark in the dim moon light, making Draco's pale skin and hair glow almost as much as his Patronus did.

"You know how risky that was?" Harry spat the words out, even as his anger ebbed away seeing the other boy. "What if I wasn't alone?"

Draco just shrugged, clearly he didn't have an answer. It didn't really matter and both of them knew that. What mattered was that they were there, together, face to face for the first time in months.

Harry hesitated before he stepped forward closer to the pale boy, touching his shoulder with featherlight fingers as though convinced his hand would move right through him. He could see the fear etched in lines on Draco's face, the flatness of his eyes that usually shone with a mixture of mirth and malice. Even in the dark it was clear how hollowed out he was.

"I had to come now." Draco said quietly, his eyes raising to meet Harry's as he stepped forward, closer to the other boy. "Or not at all."

Those words fell like rocks within Harry's stomach, fear threatened to make his hands shake and his knees jello as he felt the weight of what Draco was implying. He knew things were grim for both of them. The weight of the wizarding world landed squarely on Harry's shoulders, but the weight of Voldemort's wrath, hatred and aggression had fallen on Draco and his family. And that load was no lighter than the one Harry carried.

Neither of them spoke, there wasn't much to say that would help anything. Harry moved the small inch or so that closed the gap between them, sliding his arms around the blonde, pulling him in tightly. Draco raised his head, one arm staying tight around Harry's back, his free hand raising to push into the unruly black hair that he both loved and hated. Their lips pressed together hard and fast, a low noise escaping from Draco that he immediately stifled. 

In moments they were on the ground. It was cold and hard, icy half frozen leaves stuck first to their clothes and then to their skin as they struggled out of what they were wearing. Neither of them noticed. Neither of them would have cared even if they had noticed. All that mattered was the heat of their skin where it pressed together, the slick slide of their lips as they kissed harder and deeper. They pulled insistently at each other, shifting and sliding together in ways they'd both thought about but had never chanced before.

"It'll hurt.." Harry breathed the words out above Draco, his hips between his thighs and the blonde boy's hand around his cock, urging him forward.

"I don't care. Not having this will hurt more." 

Harry could hear the catch in Draco's voice that was half the same heated need that was in him and half the absolute torment that his life had become. He swallowed thickly, nodded his head as he leaned in to catch the blonde's lips again. He kissed him deep but not hard, shifting a bit, using one hand with Draco's to press against him, trying to move slowly and smoothly, though neither of them had any sort of practice at any of this that Harry knew of.

Draco hissed, gritting his teeth and pulling his head back from the other boy's, his breathing hard as Harry could clearly feel the struggle to relax as he pushed into him. The tight heat of his body like a vice around him, his hard flesh twitching, almost threatening to end things before they even started from the tight hot squeeze alone.

"Move.." The one word came quietly from the blonde and Harry, who had stilled his hips, pushed forward again until they pressed against the soft flesh of Draco's ass, pulling a low stifled groan from deep in his chest. 

"You feel so... Nnn..." Harry rumbled the noise out, his eyes jerking up as he heard Draco laugh softly, frowning at him. "What?"

"You look good like this. And totally out of your depth." Draco whispered to Harry, shifting to press his hips up a bit, which pulled a groan from the dark haired boy. 

"Oh shut up, Malfoy..."

Draco smiled at him again, resting down against the cold ground, both hands sliding down Harry's back to pull at him, urging the other boy to move. He gasped hard a few moments later as Harry, intent on gaining the upper hand again, thrust into him much more pointedly. "Fuuuck..."

"Don't swear, it's so uncouth." Harry muttered the words but he smiled as he said them, shifting his knees a bit to start moving with more of a rhythm, pulling back just a bit, then arching forward strongly, loving the feel of being so deep inside the blonde. 

They moved together, rocking and grinding in harmony, somehow easily finding the best way to work, stealing kisses that got harder as time passed, the air of subtlety draining in the face of heat and need that overcame them both. They arched and pulled and writhed and were as quiet as they possibly could be, though both wanted to be far louder. The intensity, the desire, the heat that melted the frozen leaves right off their skin was enough to surge in a wave around them, seeming to create a barrier of their own much like the ones around Harry's camp.

"Harry..." His name sounded strangled as Draco said it and the dark haired boy understood what was being communicated and he leaned in to catch Draco's lips once more, kissing him bruisingly hard as he thrust faster into the tight heat of the body under him, skimming the edges of no return himself until he felt Draco's cry against his lips, smothered by his mouth as his muscles tensed and he released. Harry followed within moments, pushing up hard into him squelching the noise in his throat as his muscles strained and pulsed inside of Draco.

The woods were silent again except for the sound of their breathing, fast and hard to start with, but slowing as minutes trickled by.

"You should move camp tomorrow." Draco finally spoke first, not meeting Harry's eyes, though he kept his arms around him.

"We never stay more than a night or two, but why do you think we need to?"

"Because I don't know how close an eye he's keeping on me."

Harry wanted to be angry that Draco had potentially led Voldemort straight to him, but honestly he really didn't care. Not that much. Not when they were both staring down the barrel of the same gun anyways.

"I'll make Hermione leave tomorrow morning. Or tonight, I'll tell her I heard someone..."

"That would be even better." Draco sighed softly, shifting under Harry who took that as a cue to slide away from the other boy.

They both stayed silent as they redressed, then stood and looked at each other. It wasn't awkward, they were both trying to delay the inevitable.

"You can't come back, can you." Harry said eventually, rubbing a hand against his arm. "How did you even find me in the first place?"

"I didn't, I just followed my Patronus. I didn't even know I could do that while apparating, but..." He trailed off, raising one shoulder in a half shrug.

They fell silent again, letting it stretch while they looked at each other before eventually, again, Draco shifted. "I need to go."

"Please be safe..." Harry said quietly, reaching one hand out to touch Draco's cheek, the only thing he felt he could safely do. More than that and he might have grabbed the other boy and refused to let go for anything.

"You too." Draco said, looking intensely into Harry's eyes for a few moments, then turned to walk back through the woods.

Harry stood in the same place long after the quiet sound of Draco's footsteps had lapsed. Watching the place between the tree's he'd last seen him.

He knew he was fighting the war for the whole of the wizarding world. But in his heart he was fighting it to free just one person.


End file.
